Megaupload owners to face new charges from US

The operators of filesharing site Megaupload are facing new charges, after the US Department of Justice filed a superseding indictment charging the nine defendants with additional counts of criminal copyright infringement and wire fraud.

By
Grant Gross
| Feb 20, 2012

| IDG News Service

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The operators of filesharing site Megaupload are facing new charges, after the US Department of Justice filed a superseding indictment charging the nine defendants with additional counts of criminal copyright infringement and wire fraud.

The superseding indictment alleges that the defendants reproduced materials from other websites, including YouTube, and made them available on Megaupload.

The defendants, including seven people and two companies, were originally charged in a five count indictment on January 5. The original charges were conspiracy to commit racketeering, conspiracy to commit copyright infringement, conspiracy to commit money laundering and two substantive counts of copyright infringement. Law enforcement agencies have arrested five of the seven people indicted and have seized $50 million (£30 million) in assets.

The superseding indictment also contains new information about an alleged user of the service. The user, identified as VV in the indictment, uploaded 16,950 files to Megavideo.com and Megaupload.com, generating more than 34 million page views, according to the indictment.

VV was the subject of "numerous" takedown notices complaining about copyright infringement, including 85 notices from one representative, the DOJ said. VV received five award payments, totalling $3,400 (£2,150), from Megaupload in 2008 and 2009, the indictment said.

The superseding indictment also identifies new assets subject to seizure by US authorities, including property, bank accounts, jet skis, jewelry and watches.